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EFF, Public Knowledge Sue Over Secret IP Pact

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept.

Cowards Anonymous writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have filed a lawsuit against the Office of the US Trade Representative in an attempt to get the office to turn over information about a secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement treaty being negotiated to step up cross-border enforcement of copyright and piracy laws. ACTA could include an agreement for the US, Canada, the European Commission and other nations to enforce each others' IP laws, with residents of each country subject to criminal charges when violating the IP laws of another country, according to a supposed ACTA discussion paper [PDF] posted on Wikileaks.org in May."

2 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Means nothing in the UK - they could do it anyway by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its meaningless in the case of the UK anyway. Once you give the right to a foreign power to extradite anyone without having to produce evidence why, even if they have never left the UK or committed a crime in this country then this is permitted by default anyway.

    When will we get a government that cares about our people more than appeasing the playground bully?

  2. Speaking as an old person... by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...but minus the fistful of dollars...

    To put it succinctly: we're pissed off, too.
    I'm not at all happy about what's been happening to our civil rights, our constitution or our country's image in the world. The last eight years have been a boon to the corporations and a disaster for the rest of us. Our elected officials are either too lazy, too stupid, too scared or too much beholden to the corporations. It is on their watch that the PATRIOT act, the TSA and the DMCA have been passed.

    So, it's not just the young who lose, it's all of us. Some of us old geezers feel just like you do.

    And by the way, you're damn right we have a sense of entitlement. Entitlement to do what we want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. Entitlement to human rights and fair use of copyrighted material. Entitlement not to be treated as suspected terrorists every time we board an aircraft.

    Bitter? No, just angry, and hoping more people get that way. Democracy only works if you make it work.